No specific dollar amount has yet been seat aside for Texas, but adding the state to the national effort is significant because Democrats have been outnumbered in both chambers of the Legislature for more than 20 years and haven’t won a statewide election since 1994.
It has long been the practice by national Democratic organizations and candidates to tap Texas donors to help in out-of-state races while remaining reluctant to invest resources into Texas Democrats.
State Rep. Christina Morales of Houston, who is leading the Democrats’ effort to protect the Texas House seats they already hold and to help flip vulnerable GOP seats next year, said Democrats could match or exceed their performance from the 2018 midterms, during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House. Democrats that year flipped a record 12 seats in the Texas House and two seats in the state Senate.
“I think we have a better chance than we did in 2018,” Morales said. “People are very frustrated. They thought that this administration was going to be about making things affordable, helping the working class and they were duped.”
Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Committee, said the recent sweeps by the party in elections in New Jersey and Virginia suggest Republicans could be facing a 2026 midterm comparable to that of 2010, when Democrats were pummeled nationwide during then-President Barrack Obama’s first term.
In Texas, Democrats headed into the 2010 cycle needing to flip just one state House seat to win a majority. But once the results were tallied, they were outnumbered 101-49 in the lower chamber.
“2026 is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fundamentally transform state legislative power, including making inroads in Texas,” Williams said in a statement. “By adding Texas to the DLCC’s target map, we are expanding our winning strategy to chip away at Republican power and create lasting power in statehouses all across the country.”
Heading into next year’s midterms, Republicans will be defending an 88-62 majority in the Texas House. A spokesman for the Republican Party of Texas did not return a call to discuss the effort to flip seats by the national Democratic organization.